Abstract
This work presents the effect of a melt-spinning process on the degradation behavior of bioresorbable and immiscible poly(d,l-lactide) (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) polymer blends. A large range of these blends, from PLA90PCL10 (90 wt% PLA and 10 wt% PCL) to PLA60PCL40 in increments of 10%, was processed via extrusion (diameter monofilament: ∅ ≈ 1 mm) and melt spinning (80 filaments: 50 to 70 µm each) to evaluate the impact of the PCL ratio and then melt spinning on the hydrolytic degradation of PLA, which allowed for highlighting the potential of a textile-based scaffold in bioresorbable implants. The morphologies of the structures were investigated via extracting PCL with acetic acid and scanning electron microscopy observations. Then, they were immersed in a Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) media at 50 °C for 35 days and their properties were tested in order to evaluate the relation between the morphology and the evolution of the crystallinity degree and the mechanical and physical properties. As expected, the incorporation of PCL into the PLA matrix slowed down the hydrolytic degradation. It was shown that the degradation became heterogeneous with a small ratio of PCL. Finally, melt spinning had an impact on the morphology, and consequently, on the other properties over time.
Highlights
Nowadays, there is an emergent interest in degradable and bioresorbable polymers for their applications in the medical field, and especially for tissue engineering
Many discussions can be found about the influence of the size of the sample on its degradation behavior [27]
As explained in the introduction, some authors have been working on a model that predicts whether a polymer will undergo surface or bulk degradation [16], depending on a critical thickness, Lcritical
Summary
There is an emergent interest in degradable and bioresorbable polymers for their applications in the medical field, and especially for tissue engineering. They are classified according to geometrical criteria: one-dimensional structures, such as surgical sutures and ligatures [1]; two-dimensional structures, such as hernia repair meshes and sewing rings for heart valves prosthesis [1]; three-dimensional structures, such as walled tubular constructs for vascular grafts and orthopedic implants [1]. Some others display ether–ester functions, such as polydioxanone (PDS, PDO) or polyethylene glycol (PEG) All these polymers have good biocompatibility and are known to be fully bioresorbable with different kinetic degradation times in the body
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